More than a dozen earthquakes, most of them small, have followed this morning’s earthquake under Lake Taupo. The latest outburst is a continuation of an earthquake swarm under the volcanic lake, which has produced as many as 50 quakes in the last two months.

Earthquake activity in the south-west of the Pacific Ocean has increased this week. Fifteen quakes of magnitude 5 or greater have been reported from the Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, the Kermadecs, and New Zealand.

A moderately strong earthquake struck the Kermadec Islands early this morning. The magnitude 5.4 quake, which struck at 4:10 a.m. on Friday the 5th of September 2008, was located 105 km east of L’Esperance Rock (255 km south of Raoul Island) at a depth of 22 km.

[Compiled from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey and its contributing agencies.]

Some residents of Lake Tarawera and Okareka had a restless night on Sunday when a swarm of ten small and very shallow earthquakes rattled houses around 11 p.m. One resident reports a nervy and restless dog which settled down after the largest of the quakes struck.